Orban: Europe cannot exist without nations

Without its nations, Europe would lose its spiritual and cultural identity, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, addressing a European People's Party (EPP) congress in Helsinki on Thursday. "Europe will either be a Europe of nations or it will cease to exist," Orban told the congress ahead of a vote on the lead candidate for the post of European Commission president. The "accession of central European nations have made Europe more peaceful, stronger and richer", he said. The continent's strength has always been based on strong nations, he said. Orban accused the liberals, socialists and greens of wanting a rootless Europe devoid of its spiritual and psychological identity. "Our vision is a Europe with 27 faces, one that is Christian and democratic simultaneously," he said.